FOR centuries, the Dead Sea's salty water and mineral-rich mud have been used to help people with skin problems and aching muscles.

At the Blue Lagoon (00354 420 8800; www.bluelagoon.com), a steaming turquoise playground of geothermal pools and mineral-rich mud between the city and the airport.

According to researchers of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, treatment with mineral-rich mud compresses can be used to augment conventional medical therapy.

On the other hand, the compounds used in retail Dead Sea salt are obtained from the mineral-rich mud of the Dead Sea.

Brick was engulfing his third bowl of the mineral-rich mud that, to a troll, was nourishing soup.

We soaked for hours under the blue sky, slathering mineral-rich mud from a brook on our faces and hands, and occasionally puffing on the sulfur pipe.

I found a facial treatment mask made of mineral-rich mud from the Dead Sea ($7.99 at deadseamineral.com).

Il Mirto e la Rosa, just off Via Borgo Italia, stocks the island's own range of cosmetic products, Linea Cosmetica Lago di Venere, made from the mineral-rich mud of the Bagno dell'Aqua.

The mineral-rich mud is imported from Romania, where it is used to treat arthritis and psoriasis.

To outsiders - particularly those not raised on the Central and Southern European culture of bathing in often noisome thermal springs and wallowing in volcanic, mineral-rich mud - Germany's spa system may seem a parable of excess.